


Hermione's Boggart

by olivemartini



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Boggart, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, fears, ronmione
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4461374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivemartini/pseuds/olivemartini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one knew what Hermione's boggart was.  Oh, they all thought they did, of course, when she came out of the DADA exam in her third year, screaming her head off about McGonagall saying she failed all her exams.  Everybody shook their heads with knowing, affectionate smiles, especially Ron, because who would have expected different?  But here's the thing: She lied.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hermione's Boggart

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on quotev. Hope you like it!

No one knew what Hermione's boggart was. Oh, they all thought they did, of course, when she came out of the DADA exam in her third year, screaming her head off about McGonagall saying she failed all her exams. Everybody shook their heads with knowing, affectionate smiles, especially Ron, because who would have expected different? But here's the thing:  
She lied.  
She remembered feeling good that day, walking into the dark room, knowing that a boggart lurked in the dark shadows. She had faced down all the obstacles except for one, this one, and if all went well, she would get a one hundred percent on her exam. So she waited, wand at the ready, for her worst nightmare to appear. Crack!   
And there was Ron, lying on the floor, dead. There was blood trailing from the corner of his mouth, but otherwise he could be sleeping. She gasped, trying to breathe, fighting against the feeling that she had been submerged in ice cold water. She knelt beside him, starting to cry. "Ron!" But then she remembered- Boggart. Finals. Fake.  
She pointed her wand ahead of her, hand steady. But then she looked at his face, his staring, unseeing eyes, and her reality shattered. "R-riddikulus!" She choked out.  
Crack!  
And there was Ron again, only this time, he was stirring on the ground, bits of chess pieces surrounding him, a low moan escaping form his lips. She recognized this. It was from their first year, when he had sacrificed himself to save the sorcerers stone. "Riddikulus!" But it didn't work, because now she was thinking about how badly it could have turned out.  
Crack!  
Ron again, only unharmed, with his lips pulled up in a snarl. He looked positively frightening. And, curiously, he held scabbers in his hands. "We don't like you," The boggart Ron sneered. "We like your homework answers. You think we would have talked to you at all, if it hadn't been for that troll? Not likely. Besides, I care more about my rat than I do about you."  
"Riddikulus!" She was full out sobbing now. the others must be wondering what was taking her so long. But what this boggart ron is saying can't be true, only.... it could.  
Crack!  
Now, a disembodied voice filled the room, a voice that was clearly Ron's. "It's no wonder she doesn't have any friends. She's nightmare, honestly."  
"Riddikulus!" Only now she didn't know where to point her wand, didn't know which direction the voice was coming from.  
Crack!  
And it was dead Ron again, spread out on the ground with his neck bent at an unnatural angle. Hermione didn't even try the spell one more time, just ran out, sobbing, to see the surprised looks of her classmates. And there was Ron, alive, beside Harry, both looking very concerned. "Hermione!" Professor Lupin said, shocked. "What's the matter?"  
Lie, she thought desperately. Ron can't know, Harry can't know, it'll be very bad if they do know. "It was McGonagall!" She choked out. "She told me I failed all of my exams!" But she couldn't stop crying, only stopping when she walked over to Ron and he wrapped an arm around her, pulling him close to her side.  
No one knew the truth about her boggart. At least, no one until now.

 

Harry was spying on the ministry, under the cloak, and Ron and Hermione were alone in the house. He liked these days, these days of them being together. He was just setting up the chess board when he heard it. Hermione screaming.  
It's funny, looking back, that he didn't even think about the consequences. He just grabbed his wand and took off, hurtling up the stairs, until he burst into the room that the scream had come from. It was only then, when he saw himself dead on the floor, when he got it. A boggart.  
"Ridikulus!" She choked out. Now there were four figures, Harry and Ginny, Lavender and himself.  
"You honestly thought," The boggart Lavender sneered, who was much prettier than the real version. "That he would look at you. who would, with you being a book worm, frizzy haired, buck toothed freak? He deserved so much better, and I can give it to him." then she pulled him into a kiss, a disgusting, sloppy kiss. Hermione pointed her hand at the figures. "Ridikulus!"  
Crack! Him dead, bleeding out as he watched.  
Crack! His legs twitching, being struck with the cructiatus curse.  
Crack! Him with Lavender, again, making fun of Hermione.  
Crack! Dead him.  
"Hermione!" He finally got to his senses, kneeling before her. "It's okay, I'm alive. I'm here." She had her head buried in her hands, and didn't look up, only shook with sobs. He turned back around, sheilding her with his body, making the boggoat focus on him.   
Soon, dead him turned into a giant spider, but he couldn't even focus on that, on how disgusting its legs were and how hairy the thing was. "Riddikulus." He said softly, and the spider shrank, scuttling back into the open drawer, which he slammed closed, locking the boggart inside, making a mental note to get rid of it later. Hermione was still crying, but she had moved to huddle against the wall. "Hermione, it's okay. It was just a boggart."  
"I know. I know." She took a deep, shuddering breath, then looked up at him, her eyes bright with tears. "I'm being silly, aren't I? Can't get rid of a boggart."  
"No, not at all." He put an arm around her and sat down beside her. "And for the record, you're prettier than Lavender." Hermione laughed, but it sounded half hearted, like she didn't believe it.  
"You weren't supposed to know that that was my boggart." She whispered, looking down at her hands. "I wasn't going to tell you."  
"Why not?" He sensed hat she didn't want to tell him, and it might be kinder to let it be, offer to make her a cup of tea, but he was genuinely curious. "It's not like that was so embarrasing. I'm a seventeen year old, and I'm afriad of spiders! Your worst fear is one of your friends dying." Then, as an afterthought, he added, "Makes me look pretty bad in comparison, doesn't it?"  
"That wasn't the bit of I was emabrrassed about." She looked at him, then leaned her head on his shoulder, waiting for him to get it. He thought about it for a moment. "I mean, of course I would be afraid of you dying, we're at war, and I care about you, so I don't want you dead, but the thing with Lavender was just embarrassing."  
She cares about him?   
Well duh, you're friends dummy, a little voice hissed.  
But it sounded like she meant... nevermind.  
Nevermind is right, the little voice agreed. She doesn't think about you that way, so don't go kidding yourself that she does.  
"I don't like Lavendar." He found himself mumbling. "Remember that god awful piece of jewelry that she got me for Christmas? Then she got mad because I didn't wear it?" He shook his head, and Hermione giggled.  
"I believe you compared dating ehr to dating the giant squid." she added in a monotone, like she couldn't care less. "Why'd you date her anyways?" Ah, Ron thought. The elephant in the room was finally going to be talked about. Wonderful. "I mean, at first it seemed like you liked her, but then you started hidng from her and everything, and..."  
Here we go Ron. He steeled his nerves. It's confession time. Hermione, at least, deserves the truth. "Did Ginny ever tell you about the fight the two of us got into, about her and Dean?" Hermione shook her head no. "Well, they were snogging, and I walked in on them, and what kind of brother likes to wlak in on his little sister being snogged? So I stopped it, and she got mad, started yelling about how everyone snogs everybdoy, and she mentioned something about you snogging Krum, and I got jealous." He looked at Hermione out of the corner of his eye, and saw that she was staring fixedly at a spot on the floor, the corner of her mouth twitching. Glad he amused her. "So after quidditch the one day,when I was mad that you thought I could only do good with the Felix potion, which I knew wasn't fair to be mad at you for, she came up to me, and I kissed her. then you set the birds on me, and it felt nice to be liked, so I just kept with it." Once all his great reasoning, the explanation that was going to make it okay, was out in the open, it didn't seem so impressive anymore, or important.  
"Ronald Billius Weasley," Hermione said, in a tone that was so much like his mother he felt homesick. "Do you mean to tell me, that you put Harry and I through months of Won-Won, because you were jealous of Victor Krum?"  
"Well did you snog him?" He demanded, the tips of his ears turning abright red.  
"Yes." He felt one hand form a fist at her answer. "But if you hadn't noticed, him being dead, or him being with another girl, wasn't my biggest fear, now was it?" The words, the way they seemed to be forced out of her throat, were costing her more to admit than he knew. "You've got no reason to be jealous."  
"Hermione?" He felt a hand slip into his, but he couldn't look up, for fear she would see what he was thinking written across his face. And then how embarrassing would that be, to have her reject him before he could even ask the question? Because what he was thinking right now was a bad thing. A dangerous thing. A tempting thing.  
"Hmm?" Her hair was falling over her face. He reached out to tuck it behind her ear, feeling electricity at the tips of his fingers where they brushed her skin.  
"What would you say, if I told you, that I really wanted to snog you right now?" His eyes seached over her face, flinchin at the gasp of surprise that came from her mouth, wondering if he had made another big mistake when it came to his relationship with her.  
"I'd ask you what you were waiting on." She closed her eyes, leaning in, and he reached up a hand, putting it on her cheek. He wondered how he hadn't noticed that he was the lucky one, with her here, able to be touched by him, while poor Harry and Ginny were not only broken up, but sperated by miles. Just as their lips were about to touch, they heard the thud of a dor being opened. Hermione drew back an inch, opening her eyes, and bit her lip. "Harry's home."  
"Yeah." His tone was a bit defeated. He had misssed his chance, again. He was going to die alone, or die with Lavender, and on his grave would be: Here lies Won-Won, a beloved husband. What would Fred and George say, if they knew he passed the chance up? Hermione was getting up, and waitin for him. With a sigh, he held the door open for her, wondering how in the course of an afternoon they had managed o change everything, only to find its a new perspective on a lot of the same. "And to think, all this time, I thought your boggart was failing tests."  
"Oh Ron." She shook her head, smiling, and he knew they were back to normal. He had never noticed before how unsatisyfing normal truly was.


End file.
